AESA presents the new version of its Aviation and Wildlife Map

● The new version provides users with more detailed information on areas with potential wildlife risk

● In addition to technical improvements, the tool includes novelties such as the planning of air routes and their critical areas of attraction, new layers of environmental information, or the export of information in various formats.

 

Madrid, 27 November 2024 (EASA)

The State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) has presented the new version of its Aviation and Wildlife Map. A digital tool to provide information on wildlife likely to affect air operations, both for commercial aviation users and general aviation pilots.

This version, available on the AESA website, represents an advance of the services offered, improving the interactivity of the tool and, above all, expanding the detailed information. With this, it is intended to adapt its use to the needs of the sector and increase the number and type of user to whom this information is directed.

Thanks to its classic GIS (Geographic Information System) viewer, based on ESRI mapping technology, the user can visualize or hide layers of information from the areas with potential presence of fauna over which they fly.

 

Crossing routes and layers of information

Among the novelties included in this version, a functionality has been created that allows planning flight routes to foresee the susceptible areas, within those routes, that could coincide with areas of potential concentration or presence of dangerous fauna for aviation.

In addition, the main focuses of attraction of animals, especially birds, existing in airport environments are represented, as well as the most relevant species for air operations, including, sometimes, some of their movements.

 

New layers of geographic information

The previous version had certain limitations regarding the presentation of the data provided, since, in addition to covering less information, it was only offered for public commercial aviation airports.

In the new Map of Aviation and Fauna, all the aerodromes of the national territory are included, both for public and restricted use. In addition, the data provided by airport managers has been updated in a geographical viewer format.

In addition, environmental information has been included in its content layers, such as the location of all authorised landfills, muladares (point areas for supplementary feeding of necrophagous birds), wetlands, bird concentration areas or the Natura 2000 network, the ecological network of biodiversity conservation areas approved by the European Commission.

The inclusion of this information has been possible thanks to the joint work of AESA with the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, airport managers, and the different autonomous communities.

Finally, it is worth highlighting among the novelties the ability to import routes with GPS files or export data in different files, such as PDF.

About EASA

AESA is the State body, attached to the State Secretariat for Transport of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, which ensures that civil aviation rules are complied with in all aeronautical activity in Spain.

The Agency has the missions of Supervision, Inspection and Management of Air Transport, Air Navigation and Airport Security. It assesses risks to transport safety and has the power to impose penalties for infringements of civil aviation rules.